At first I was not going to open the e-mail I got from my brand new Congressman this morning because I expected it to be the same-old-same-old that I have received in the past from my Congress critters telling me what they think about the latest issues. What a pleasant surprise it was instead to be asked what I think for a change -- and the choices were not phrased all that leading. Here they are:

Please pick the one that is most representative of your views:

(1) America has too many gun laws already. Rather than passing new restrictions, we should be repealing current restrictions and restoring freedom.

(2) America has too many guns. I support anything the federal government can do to restrict gun ownership and gun use.

(3) There is a place for some gun laws, but that place isn’t Washington and the federal government. Let the states lead on this issue so that different groups of citizens can implement different sets of laws that best reflect and serve their state and community.

(4) I understand that a tragedy is driving this debate. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that we rarely get the law right when we rush to change it after a tragedy. Whatever needs to be done, it needs to be done deliberately and thoughtfully; not rushed swiftly when Americans are still raw with grief and emotion.

(5) I want to do more to protect our children, but I don’t think new gun laws will help. Criminals who commit these crimes don’t care about the law. I support focusing on our mental health system, our justice system, violence in the media, and other opportunities to stop crimes before they happen.

(6) None of these capture my feelings well, but in general I believe that politicians who have always opposed the 2nd Amendment are using a national tragedy to push their anti-Second Amendment agenda.

(7) None of these capture my feelings well, but in general I believe we must do more to curb gun violence.

(8) None of these capture my feelings well.

Amazing. Eight choices covering the whole spectrum of opinion. Do I dare hope that Congress can be saved from the death match both political parties are presently locked into?

It also did not include my own preference of mandatory military and firearms training for all citizens, "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state" but I think the list does reflect the choices of that at least 80% of the population would find acceptable.

Aren't they all still leading answers? Wouldn't it have been better to ask you what you thought in your own words? I would choose #4 as well, but it's not really an answer. What happens when, say, the majority of responders choose #4? Does anything ever get done?

Still, it's far better than most questionnaires, I'll give the new guy that.

believe that politicians who have always opposed the 2nd Amendment are using a national tragedy to push their anti-Second Amendment agenda.

That's how our Nation was led to hate and fear the Japs; which led to their incarceration and confiscation of property. The fear mongers and their dupes deprived Japanese/ American citizens of their rights.

The subtext here is the Wall Street bailouts and foreclosure wave. All Democratic leaders essentially supported it. This is why there’s grumbling, but no alternatives. The Democrats have really just started their internal debate over big money. https://t.co/8XKgqvJYn2

Brookings Institution fellow Elaine Kamarck on Friday compared President Trump's rhetoric on immigration to "the boy who cried wolf. I think that the president at this point with immigration is like the boy who cried wolf," Kamarck, who also directs the Center for Effective Public Management, told Hill.TV's Jamal Simmons on "What America's Thinking."

What Blair had first conceived of as an elaborate joke was beginning to reveal something darker. “No matter how racist, how bigoted, how offensive, how obviously fake we get, people keep coming back,” Blair once wrote, on his own personal Facebook page. “Where is the edge? Is there ever a point where people realize they’re being fed garbage and decide to return to reality?”....“Nothing on this page is real,” read one of the 14 disclaimers on Blair’s site, and yet in the America of 2018 his stories had become real, amassing an audience of as many 6 million visitors each month who thought his posts were factual.